You don't have to apologize, man. Actually, this goes a little to the core of my argument about free speech.
Everyone has opinions. Those can be based on facts or impressions, they can make up the core of what you believe is right or wrong with the world, or they can be completely ambivalent about the subject matter. However, opinions have no intrinsic value, however well-formulated they may be or however strongly people feel about them. They are viewpoints, and said viewpoints are based off people's perceptions of the world and the values they hold closest to heart. Both of those can be easily distorted. Even when your starting line is nothing but bare facts, you can still arrive at the wrong conclusion.
However strongly my opinion disagrees with someone else's, it shouldn't be something one takes personally as a slight. And at the same time, the fact that my opinion is my opinion does not make it immune to criticism. Everybody's perceptions and values are different. How can you tell right from wrong if you don't have the same baseline assumptions? You'd never reach a consensus that way.
That is why I believe in UNRESTRICTED free speech. Yes, even the most asinine. Certain forms of expression should remain a crime - especifically those that incite violence - but people need to be exposed to a multitude of opinions in order to understand each other.
If everyone around you behaves the exact same way and displays the exact same opinions... how are you going to be able to tell the nice people from the assholes?
